Comparing Women In Much Ado About Nothing And Othello

In the 1500-1600s women were not treated the same as men. Shakespeare portrays women a certain way to break the mold of what women were supposed to be. Women are seen standing up for themselves and being bold which was not supposed to happen. Even though Shakespeare was a bit of a revolutionary with the idea of women, the other characters in his plays still view women much like real people in his time. Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Othello are similar in how women are viewed by other characters. By examining other characters objectifying women, men disrespecting women, and the social stigma around women’s actions it proves that women are treated fairly similar and poorly. First, other characters are seen objectifying women in these plays. Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing portrays Hero as a prize to be won. Bennedick goes as far to ask Claudio, “Would you buy her, that you enquire after her?” clearly talking about hero as an object they can purchase (I.i.162). The whole

In Much Ado About Nothing Claudio and Hero are at their wedding when Claudio makes a scene. He calls Hero unfaithful and goes on about how wicked and terrible she is. When talking to Leonato, Claudio says, “Give not this rotten orange to your friend,” he is suggesting that Hero make look innocent on the outside but she is rotting on the inside (IV.ii.1672). Claudio shows absolutely no respect for Hero in this scene. Hero is not even aloud a moment to explain her side of the story. Likewise in Othello Emilia begins to reveal Iago’s plan and Iago responds by saying, “be wise, and get ye home,” but instead of staying quiet and loyal to her husband she speaks up and tells her friends everything. Iago ends up stabbing Emilia right there just for speaking out and not obeying him. However, these two plays are different in the sense that Claudio and Hero made amends while Iago and Emilia did not have a peaceful